Rhinegeist needs to get out of this slump. They've had some great beers, they've had some average beers, and they've had some not great beers. The number of not great and average is the same. This does not bode well. They're lagging behind in great beers, and they've never touched excellent. However, they should be commended for also not producing an all-out bad beer. I just feel like these guys can do better, and I want to take this journey with them. Make Cincinnati proud. Make Ohio proud.
First sip is a very solid hit of fruit. The passionfruit is definitively beating down the pineapple for supremacy, and there is little else left in its wake. The sweetness appears to be coming from the pineapple, and it is managing to hold off the tartness of passionfruit. So, in a way, it is well-balanced. But, in another more accurate way, I'm not getting a whole lot of ale out of my ale. Sometimes fruit overpowers the beverage it is intended to highlight, and that appears to be what I've encountered.
Tip-in is sweet pineapple and fizzing carbonation. The middle stretches out into a very nice, very well-balanced sweet and tart mix of passionfruit and pineapple with a worthy ale propping them up from underneath. Honestly, I did not expect the center of this the beer to be nearly as good as it is. The finish is where the passionfruit takes over from the pineapple and unbalances things again, but it can't take away from the deliciousness of the middle of the gulp.
Bottom Line: Wowie
4.25/5
